I am disturbed by the increase in information about how Utah has signed on to the national standards known as Common Core and yet I see nothing on the news or in the papers about this issue. The American Institutes for Research have signed on to create testing standards that correlate to the Common Core education standards. This testing will be designed to not only test the standards but is being created by a company that specializes in testing that measures behavioral indicators as well.

AIR’s mission is “to conduct and apply the best behavioral and social science research and evaluation toward improving peoples’ lives, with a special emphasis on the disadvantaged.”

Why does the Utah Department of Education and the federal government need to know the behavioral indicators for my child? Who gets the results of these tests? What are the questions being asked on the test?

Dr. Gary Thompson of the Early Life Child Psychology Center has stated recently in a letter to Superintendent Menlove that these types of tests do not adequately meet the needs of children that fall outside the normal range of the educational spectrum, i.e. ADHD, Autisic, minorities, learning disabled and others. These children will not be served by this type of testing and currently there is no “opt out” option for these children.

Parents don’t get to vote on this testing; just accept what is being presented around the state at informational meetings about the new testing standards. Utah has the highest rate of autism in the United States. How can the Utah State School Board and the State Superintendent think that they are serving the educational needs of all the children of Utah when they are counting out several hundred thousand students right out of the gate with Common Core? I don’t know about you, but my child isn’t common and I don’t expect his education to be either.